A couple of weeks ago I entered the Hoka Highland Fling race, a 53 mile (85km) trail run through the Scottish highlands. When I say “entered”, I’m not describing the process fully, so here goes.

I got introduced to this race by a bunch of Scots and Brits during my time in Viscri for the Transylvanian Bear Race. They all raved about the course, the organization, the atmosphere. I looked it up as soon as I got home and added the date when entries opened to my calendar. As that date grew came closer, the race directors announced that instead of an open entry, the entries would be decided by a ballot draw. We had a week to register and then we’d be notified within 2 weeks with the confirmation. With 1000 places on the entry list and about 1300 people entering the ballot, I knew I had a decent chance of getting it. Didn’t make me less excited when I actually got the e-mail, though 🙂

So now I start training. And since “just” running a couple of times a week isn’t going to get me through 53 miles, I’m trying to get some sense of structure into my running. I’m starting with 35 to 40 km per week for the rest of the year. Keeping that up will be hard enough, with work being massively busy and the weather being wet and cold.

As I said at the start of my previous big race, I’m going to try and blog about it more regularly. To keep me accountable and to keep you all up to date on how things are going.

(I may have a new running/blog related project in the works, if all goes well you’ll read about that pretty soon too :))

Running the Bear Race in June sparked something in me: a renewed motivation and drive for running, training and racing. Running 2/3 times each week: long runs, speed work, intervals. And off course, I started looking for new race to run.

Sportevents.be puts on bunch of trail and triathlon races in Belgium and I decided to do one in the middle of August: the Trail Des Fantomes in La Roche En Ardenne. They had a 33km and a 65km distance on Sunday and I was quiet sure which one I wanted to do from the get go. Ultra or bust, right?! 😀

Luckily, I’m blessed to have friends that are just as crazy as I am and that wanted to drive me down to La Roche on Sunday morning. The race started at 7, which meant we have to leave in Leuven around 4:30 in the morning.

Race day

My alarm went off at a quarter to 4 and I got out of bed right away. I was pretty nervous and didn’t sleep much at all the night before. Made coffee, dumped breakfast in a container I could take with me and triple checked all my gear. On the road 4:30 and as you would expect there was hardly on traffic (because it was still the middle of the night). Arrived in La Roche just after 6, where it was cold and very foggy. Found the registration tent, collected my bib and headed back to the car the change into my running kit.

A couple of minutes before 7 we all bunched up at the start, the air filled with nervous anticipation for the day to come. I was pretty nervous too, scared even. 65km, what did I get myself into?!? But when 7 o’clock came around, we went for it. 500 meters up the road and then straight up into the forest. At this point I already wished I had brought my trekking poles with me (pro tip 1 if you wan to run this race next year: bring them poles!). The climb was super steep and it felt like it just kept going and going. The first 15 or so kilometers were more of the same, alternating between steep ascents and speedy longer downhill sections.

Then the course hit the shores of the Ourthe river and it ran along there for a good bit. There wasn’t really a trail there so we were constantly scrambling over rocks, under fallen trees, up, down, etc… An okay part of the course I guess, but not a part where you could run or go fast so this part took a big chunk of time.

Around 25km we crossed the Ourthe, at a place where it was about 40 meters wide, and continued on the other side. I was doing good but tired from the slow rocky part. Interchanging running and walking for the next 10km, I pushed on.

By then it was around 11am and the foggy morning had traded places with a bright sunny (and hot) day. On a big downhill section, I noticed that the insole of my shoes were sliding around and bunching up under my feet. So I stopped and straightened them again, slightly worried that I’d have to do that after every 4/5 km for the rest of the race. But on the next big climb, the upcoming blister on my right foot started hurting much more all of a sudden. I pushed through it on the climb and when I reached the top I saw the insole had worked itself way out of my shoe on the inside and up to my ankle (past that blister, hence the extra pain). Knowing I couldn’t carry on like that, I took both insoles out of my shoes and stuffed them in my pack. But I also knew that that wasn’t going to make things any easier. These shoes, the Salomon S-Lab Wings, are light and fast race shoes that don’t offer a lot of cushioning. And taking out the insole basically took away the little cushioning that was in there from the start.

With still 30km to go, things weren’t looking up. I walked for a big portion here, running on the downhills and pushing hard and fast on the up hills.

Still walking and a couple of kilometers later, I passed Pieter, who was also walking and was clearly in pain. Chaffing at the legs, feet in pain, not eating anymore, the works. He was going to walk to the aid station at 40km and get out there. We walked and talked for quite a bit and ended up making it to the aid station together. That station was at 44km by the way, and by then he (and I) was in better spirits, I even convinced him to try and finish :). So we refueled and resupplied on water and cookies and headed back out. By then we had been out there around 8 hours and we still had about 20km to go. Rough, but I was going to finish this.

Doing a mix of running, walking and scrambling over/under things I made it to 55km, where 2 runners from the Netherlands passed me. With 10km and just under 2 hours until the time cap, they urged me on and said I should hurry. I was way too optimistic at first and said that wouldn’t be a problem. But as they were 100m ahead of me I changed my mind and I even got a bit worried. I was going to finish this and it would damn well be before the timecap! (the time cap was 12 hours or 7pm, at that point in the race it was just after 5pm). So, time too toughen up and hustle.

I hit the last aid station at km 60 about a minute before the Dutch pair. It was 5 minutes before 6pm then. We had glass of Coke or 2, some cookies and then headed out together for the last 5km, and the last big climb. We struggled up the 800m climb and started running once we were up and over the peak. All that was left was a slow downhill for about 3km, then the route dropped fast to the Ourth. Cross the river, about 500m through a camping site and the finish line was in sight. In the distance I could see Manuel (the guy crazy enough to give me a ride in the morning) and my mother & sister waiting for me :). They didn’t tell me they’d be making the drive down so it was a great surprise to see them there.

I crossed the finish line after 11 hours and 51 minutes. Relieved, exhausted, happy.

65km, 2800m of elevation gain and 4 UTMB points. That says something about how tough of a course it was and I certainly underestimated it. It took me longer than I had planned or expected but I made it through none the less. This was a rough ride mentally as well and there were definitely times where I wanted to quit. But in the end it was all worth it, those last 10km and crossing the finish line felt great.

The body has about two hours of carbohydrate fuel (glycogen) at marathon pace (defined loosely as 85 percent of your max heart rate). Beyond that is the dreaded bonk. To simplify the complex science on bonking: body go boom. – Trail runner magazine, David Roche

Interesting article about fasted training. In the past I would always take food with me whenever I went out for over an hour but in recent weeks I’ve been doing these runs fasted and they’ve ended up just fine.

When my sister and me were little, my parents took us on summer holiday’s to Austria for a couple of years. The last time we all went on holiday with the 4 of us was over 10 years ago and with my sister graduating this year, the parents thought it would be a good idea to get some time away together again. Back to Austria

This year we went to the Zillertal, in a small village call Stumm, in a nice hotel at the edge of the village. On the first day we walked along the Ziller, had lunch in Zell and then I continued on to Mayrhofen, while the rest of the family took the train back to Stumm.

On day 2, we headed up into the mountains. But since each our abilities and expectations were somewhat different, we split up. The parents got off halfway up the mountain and would hike up to our lunch spot. My sister and I headed further up, where she would make a small loop to the hut and would hike/run a bigger loop. I ended up hitting 2 summits, the Ritzkopf and the Kreutzjoch, before heading back down and meeting the rest a the family for lunch (which was Kaiserschmaren, yummy :)). And we all arrived there within about 20 minutes of each other so the plan worked out great.

Then I found a route down the mountain and ran back to Stumm that way, while the others took the elevator and the train back. The run turned out to be about 20km, most if not all of it downhill. I definitely felt that in my quads the day after.

The weather during the week was quite nice, a couple of rainy and overcast days but for the most part it was hot and sunny. The sunburns on the back of my knees and calves prove as much 🙂

After a day of up & down fun on our own, we headed to the Durlaßboden Stausee on the third day. It was about a 10km hike around the lake, most of it in the blazing heat. But we got rewarded with some amazing views along the way so it was well worth it.

I could go on and on about the different hikes we did but needless to say we all had a great time. Good food, great weather, the mountains and most of all: quality time with the family.

There’s another post coming about a specific hike I did that was pretty adventurous, with lots of photos too. Stay tuned for that 🙂

I’ve been back home from Viscri for a (couple of) week(s) now and I still don’t quite know where to start with this post. What a race. What an experience. I feel like I still haven’t fully processed it entirely so here’s an attempt to write it all down…

Arriving in Romania

We left for the airport bright and early on Thursday morning, making sure to avoid the usual morning traffic. All went well and we arrive at Charleroi Airport on schedule and with time to spare. Checked in, sat down for a drink and headed to the gate. Weather in Belgium at the moment was the same as it had been most of the week: grey, windy and loads of rain. We took off with some delay but after a smooth flight we touched down at OTP and the weather was absolutely smashing:

We jumped in the shuttle van to the car rental company to pick up our VW Jetta and hit the road north-west for Brașov. As we drove up north, the weather slowly turned. From intermittent showers to full on pouring down by the time we passed Brașov. That’s what the forecast for Viscri called for, and what the weather had been like for the past couple of weeks. By the time we arrived in Dacia and left the main road for Viscri, it was almost dark. The last 30 minutes were slow and the road to Viscri was in quiet a bad shape. We got settled in our rooms at Nina & Dorin’s place (Viscri 195), went for a short walk through the village and called it a day. We we’re all quite beat after a day full of travel.

Friday

We slept in a bit on Friday, had breakfast around 9 and headed out for a hike until noon. The weather hadn’t gotten any better overnight, ranging from a slow drizzle to all out downpour the entire day. Needless to say we all had enough of it after 3 hours of trotting around and getting soaked, so we changed into something dry, had lunch and then we went for a road trip. My dad had scoped out some points along the race course where we intersected with roads and that’s where I’d see them along the course. There were 3 points and we wanted to check them beforehand, to see if they could actually be reached by car.

The first point was in Crit, that’s fine. (later we found that the course had changed and that only the ultra would be passing there)

The other 2 points took us over small dirt roads, turned into deep deep mud after weeks of rain, and our Jetta was far from up to that challenge. Disappointed we headed back to Viscri for supper.

Pre-race briefing

A little before 19h I headed to Viscri 125, where the race HQ was located, for the pre-race safety briefing and for dinner with the other runners. I met 2 runners for England and as more people arrived we all introduced ourselves and chatted about how wonderful Romania is, about previous races and the usual “are you doing the ultra tomorrow? or just the marathon?”. All in good fun off course. And it wasn’t just a marathon, was we’d soon find out.

We moved the renovated barn next door, where race director Ben would update us on the course, the weather forecast, signage and any other things we had to be aware of. Due to some last minute course changes, what first was the marathon course would be about 5km longer. That is, if we wanted to start at the official start: the fortified church. For some of the runners, it was their first time doing a marathon distance race and they didn’t want to push their luck by adding more distance to their day than needed, so they arranged to be dropped of along the course. Most of us on the other hand felt like we should be starting at the church, extra distance be damned, we’d tough it out. After the briefing we had a pasta dinner, a beer and chatted away with new people. Around 22h I headed back “home” (that’s what 195 really feels like for me when I’m in Viscri) to pack my race kit (and then reconsidered, pack again, changed my mind again, pack again..) In bed my 23h, head buzzing but I was able to get some descent sleep none the less.

Saturday – race day!

I was up around 6, jumped in the shower, triple checked my vest and food and then I headed up the village to 125 for breakfast with the other runners. Some coffee and eggs later, we all headed for the church a little before 8 to see of the ultra runners. 80km in this weather and terrain is nothing short from impressive and it was great to see these 16 amazing runners off. After that we headed back for some more coffee, pinned on our bibs, took some pre-race photos, filled up our bottles and headed back to church for our start. Nervous laughs and people checking their laces and vests for the 12th time. This was it. Here we go. With a couple minute to go before 9am, we all huddle together for a group photo, then everyone spectating counted us down and off we went!

I was fairly familiar with the first 10/15km of the course (I ran it on our visit in November last year) and it felt good to know which way to go. What didn’t feel so good was the immense amount of deep and heavy mud on the first 25 minutes of the course. A couple of weeks of rain, combined with heavy logging vehicles moving in and out of the area hadn’t done the terrain any favours. Slowed down to a crawl we pushed on, the front of the pack still bunched together as the mud bogged us all down.

On a particularly nasty section my left shoe got stuck in the mud. I managed to keep my balance and got out of it while someone behind me pulled my shoe out. Laced up again and onwards. Not 5 minutes later, same thing happened with my other foot. This time I tripped and had to catch myself on my shoeless foot: down in the mud halfway up my calf with just a sock on. Someone pulled out my shoe again, I poured the water/mud from it and strapped back in. We were 30 minutes in, both my feet were drenched in mud and soaking wet. This was going to be fun.

The weather on race day also deserves a more than honourable mention: after days of rain and a forecast that called for intermittent thunderstorms and showers, we all feared (and packed) for the worst. But on Saturday morning, while having breakfast on the patio, the clouds started to recede and we actually caught a glimpse of some sunshine. Things were looking up. And sure enough, by the time I reached 30km mark and aid station 3 (I had been running for just under 4 hours at that point), the sun was all out in full force. After aid station 3, the route crossed an open meadow for 2km’s and without the cover of the forest, the heat was just too much too run in. I tried a couple of times but ended up hiking the better part through there.

With almost 15km left to go, I was quickly approaching the point where I’d be running for longer then I ever had before. And with the number of participants being so small (around 45 people running the marathon), I had been running by myself for most the second part of the race. All that, combined with the blisters I had around my toes made I really hard to run and to keep running. Also: open blisters and muddy forest water aren’t the most enjoyable of combinations. Kilometer 42 came and went and I was nowhere near the finished line, still deep in the forest without a sign of civilisation in sight. But I knew it wouldn’t be long now, I had to be almost there.

Bringing it home

Around 2km later, the course emerged from the forest and Sighișoara’s citadel appeared in the distance. It was mostly downhill until we entered the city itself and went up to the citadel. But before we got there, there were a bunch of large (too deep) concrete steps that were really hard to navigate with feet as sore as mine were by that point. At the end of the descend, I ran into my dad who was waiting for me there and who pointed me in the right direction up into the city. Running under the citadel’s gate, I was greeted with loads of shouting and applause from runners that had already finished were having drinks out in the town’s main square. I was really exhausted at that point but I managed to keep running along the cobblestones. Until I reached the stairs to the school, where the finish was. 2 steps in and my lower back just cramped up. Total shut down. Struggling up the stairs, stopping over 4/5 steps to stretch, I pushed through. Those cramps made this by far the hardest part of the course for me. When I reached the top, it wasn’t very clear where the finished was so I went left (more uphill, my back protesting even harder at this point). As I rounded the corner I was greeted with cheers from the finish line, where my mom and sister, along with some other runners where cheering me on. That was it. Done.

Post race festivities

After I caught my breath, we headed down the stairs and joined the other finishers for a beer and catch up on how our races went. Good to hear I wasn’t the only one having trouble going down those concrete stairs :). A good hour or so later, it was high time for a shower. I headed for the nearby hostel, where the race organisation had arranged a couple of rooms where we could shower. Refreshed and in clean clothes, I headed back to the town square for more drinks 🙂 Later in the evening, we all had diner together and I got to meet some more of the runners. I found myself setting with a 2 amazing people from Northern Ireland, father and daughter, who ran the race together. And with a marketing teacher from London. A fun evening with good and wine and new friends. We left around 10pm, as we still had an hour’s drive back to Viscri to do.

I was absolutely beat, knackered, sore and equally happy and warmed by the day and the amazing people I got to meet.

Sunday consisted of sleeping in, reading, eating, napping and more eating. The blisters were bothering me a bit and my left knee felt a bit wonky but other than that I was fine.

On Monday we left for Bucharest early, anticipating Monday traffic and we still had get our rental car cleaned somewhere along the way. The drive down went fine and we ended up at the airport with time to spare. That was it then, the adventure was over.

Epilogue

Fast forward a couple of weeks, I can safely say it may be over that it hasn’t been forgotten. Not by a long shot. As is evident by how long it took me to actually finish this write-up I guess. Running this race reignited something me, a drive to run more, to push myself beyond what I have done in the past. I’m back to regularly running every week and I’d love to do more trails in the future, even got my eye on an ultra next year 🙂

As one of the most experienced members of the team, part of what I have to do is be on the lookout for the things I’ve seen burn myself or others in the past. And they frequently show up again, no matter how good the team is.

…

There are always problems. Your job is to see if you can spot them before they hurt someone.

Our flight is planned to take of for Bucharest OTP tomorrow morning at 10:40 from Charleroi, which puts us in Bucharest around 14:25 local time.

I’m looking forward to landing at OTP, to driving to Viscri. And to spending time there with my Mom, who’s only been there once.

And I’m really looking forward to being greeted by these 2: Goofy and Sissy :). Eventhough we’re only in Viscri for a couple of days each year, they know and recognize us everytime we arrive back there. They make it feel like home.

I’m hoping to keep you posted on our travels and on the race once we’re there so be sure to check back here 🙂